A great break (so far)

     Well, it's been busy, but good! We survived Christmas and all that goes with that, and now we are gearing up for New Year's.
      I know that January will be exceptionally full this year because I am directing the play that we will perform the last weekend of January!
      So, for now, I am just relishing in the relative quiet and calm before the proverbial storm. Today especially! I slept in until 9:30, and now I am having my morning cup of coffee and computer!
      Getting Cody home was a roller coaster of emotions because there were several changes and glitches, but in the end, he was home at the time we originally planned. It was touch and go there for a bit, though.
      It was so nice to have Cody home! He deploys on January 9th, and that is scary for us, but he is smart and strong, and a survivor, so he will be home come August.
      My world is complete when my family is also. We have so much fun just being silly and playing and laughing and teasing each other. Our littlest one absolutely worships the boys. She is so funny with them, and this year it was hard to take anything serious from her with both of her front teeth missing!


      We also got to spend some quality time with Rick's oldest daughter and her family. That is always loud and fun!
      As I was sitting back seeing everyone there (minus Rick's son, Mikey), I was thinking how this is all that matters in life...the health and happiness of all those we love.
      Unfortunately we did have to take Cody back. SIGH. We drove him down to Wenatchee to catch a ride with our friends over to Seattle. I did mostly OK on the ride down...a few tears.
      I gave him a huge hug when we dropped him off, and then I jumped in the car and started bawling.
      I cried for awhile, and then felt a little better. Couple of tears yesterday, and so far none today. But, I imagine that as the day comes closer when he actually deploys, I will be an emotional wreck.
      He does get to visit my parents in Vegas later this week, and in the end, Cody saw EVERYBODY he needed to while he was home (lots on the list).
     Now, we have a little less than a week until back to school. I plan on continuing with my great break and getting quite a bit done on my to-do-list, including some RELAXATION!

This video is from our trip down to drop off Cody. I have several funny ones with the two boys in the backseat singing, too. You can definitely tell that Cody is NOT in Marine mode, but more VACATION...hairy boy! LOL